Measure what matters. Even if you don’t fully control it

Product teams often limit their goals to what they can fully control, which produces narrow metrics that no one outside the team understands and that rarely tie to real business outcomes. The argument that you should only be judged on factors within your control creates a false sense of safety and encourages metric fixation.

A common failure pattern is tying product goals to A/B test results. In theory the test gives a precise impact measurement, but in practice it slows velocity because teams set up tests just to get attribution and run obvious improvements as tests instead of fully ramping them. The result is a cycle where teams celebrate a win on a narrow metric while the broader business suffers from delayed or missed ramp-ups.

The remedy is to hold product teams accountable for the full business outcomes, even when their control is only partial. Sales doesn't fully control closed-won revenue, marketing doesn't fully control ROAS, and talent acquisition doesn't fully control hiring velocity-yet they are still measured against those outcomes. Aligning incentives to the results that matter eliminates distractions, keeps focus on value delivery, and forces teams to think beyond the easy wins of isolated tests.